Health care has a long-held perception of perioperative nurses as providers who advocate for patients and who carry out physician orders. According to the Institute of Medicine's 2010 report on the future of nursing, not only must that view evolve, but nurses also must play a leading role, in partnership with physicians and other health care colleagues, if health care reform is to succeed. Several factors will prepare nurses for this new role of partnering to advance health, including advancing their formal education, developing leadership as a core competency, acquiring leadership skills, and being active in new models of leadership (ie, mentorship, volunteering, advocacy).
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) report on The Future of Nursing 1 has now been in publication for a full year. This report is a landmark for our profession in its focus and its call to action. The question that I pose for us to consider is "how have we, as an Association and as individual nurses, responded to this call to action?"The IOM report contains four key messages: In light of the continued health care reform discussion that is occurring within our nation, I believe that the third and fourth key messages from this report are of particular significance. "Nurses should be full partners . . . in redesigning heath care in the United States." 2 Being a full partner is a significant responsibility; it requires nursing to move out of the shadows of other disciplines and join the discussion. Our profession has historically waited for invitations to discussions about health care reform; it is now time for us to move to action of our own volition. As the IOM report indicates, this will require bold leadership. Nurse leaders at the bedside as well as in executive suites will need to engage in these discussions and ensure the voices of nurses are heard. This type of leadership is not natural to our profession. It will require a new way of training as well as a new way of thinking about how we see ourselves and the role we play in health care. The value we provide to the health care of our nation must be fully understood by our nurse colleagues and articulated at every opportunity. This partnership begins with each of us in every interaction we have with our physician colleagues, other health care providers, and health care administrators and policy makers. We must view ourselves and conduct ourselves as full partners before others will recognize us as such.The fourth key message focuses on better data collection and information infrastructure. AORN has taken this message to heart. Before the publication of The Future of Nursing report, our Board of Directors approved the strategic resource investment in AORN Syntegrity® Standardized Perioperative Framework. 3 This framework is designed to provide nurse-sensitive clinical support using the standardized language of the Perioperative Nursing Data Set. 3,4 This framework provides nurses and perioperative administrators with evidence-based, outcome-focused assessment, intervention, and evaluation logic supporting quality perioperative nursing care. This framework is designed with a standardized logic and language to facilitate creation and use of a data repository to benchmark quality, safety, efficiency, and financial variables in the perioperative environment. This outcome-focused, evidence-based framework is vital for perioperative nurses to validate and articulate the value of the nurse in the perioperative setting.AORN's leaders have focused on expanding the scope of influence of perioperative nursing in the reform of the health care system. It is vital that we continue to invest in leadership development as well as further development of credible information infrast...
The Institute of Medicine report The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health highlights the need for more information about the nursing workforce. Without attention to the problem, OR nursing is likely to continue to experience the nursing shortage more acutely than other practice areas. By changing how they acquire and use nursing data, and by advocating for improved exchange of data between federal and state governments and nursing schools, facilities can be better prepared for future workforce challenges.
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